CANNON TIMES
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2018-2019
Principal Points - Week of October 22, 2018
This week, we will wear orange on Wednesday, in support of Unity Day. This is a date that is focused on Bullying Prevention. The video below is a powerful reminder about the impact bullying can have on others.
As I watched the video embedded below, I was reminded of how powerful and life-changing a single MOMENT can be. The decisions we make, the words we choose, the way we respond in the moment, can have a big impact on the day, year, even the life of another person.
Sometimes, in the midst of busy times, with so many expectations and changes around us, we can forget or feel like we don't have time to make moments matter for our scholars or for each other. But, as this video demonstrates, creating those moments doesn't always require some big production. THESE are the moments that matter. The moments we take with our own families, with each other, our parents, and with our students.
You are making moments every day that are changing the world. Thank you for making every moment count for our Cubs!
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
#BeCannonProud
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Lisa's Coaching Corner
One of the areas in which learning is at its highest point is when students are able to defend their thinking. This level of thinking is what helps us be successful at being able to answer higher level questions. At the elementary level, it is important that we begin this process in Kindergarten by "naming the category" of the reasons. These reasons begin on personal experiences. As students progress through their development we can add:
- other people's experience
- facts from videos
- characters from books (fiction)
- situations from books (fiction)
- facts from a text (including non-fiction)
- facts from current events
- facts from history
- experiments
- other people's experiments
Please take 5 minutes to watch this video that models "categories of evidence" to take your students to the highest level of conversation with EVIDENCE. Please take this example and apply across ALL of your content. Your students will benefit exponentially if as a school we purposefully model students thinking in the manner.
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DATES TO REMEMBER
10/22 UCAN -3:00-3:45 -see info in this newsletter about meeting locations.
10/22 Spooky Skate @ Skate Town for Cannon Cubs - 6:00-8:00
10/23 Parent Tours - 8:00-9:00 & 1:45-2:45
10/23 PLC Week A - 5th grade 2:15-3:45
10/23 David's Law Presentation - CHHS - 6:00 pm
10/24 Unity Day - wear ORANGE with JEANS!
10/24 PLC Week A - 4th grade - 2:15-3:45
10/24 GCISD Principal/Admin Instructional Rounds @ Cannon - 8:00-11:00
10/25 Parent Tours - 9:30-10:30
10/25 Staff Pot Luck Lunch - Hosted by 2nd/4th/& 5th grades
10/25 PLC Week A - 3rd Grade - 2:15-3:45
10/25 Cubs Night Out @ Cici's Pizza
10/26 Special Veteran Guests @ Friday Assembly
10/26 Parent Tours - 8:00-9:00; 1:45-2:45
10/29-11/2 Red Ribbon Week
10/30 PLC Week B - Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
10/31 PLC Week B - 1st grade 2:15-3:45
11/01 PLC Week B - 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
11/02 1st grade field trip to Green Meadows Farm -9:15-2:00 pm
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STILL HAVE NEW SCHOOL/MOVE-IN RELATED QUESTIONS?
Now that we have made the move, there are many of you who continue to have questions regarding your classrooms/building; technology; HVAC; schedule/routines; furniture, etc... Please use this link to submit questions & suggestions!
Q & A (QUESTIONS & ANSWERS):
- WHAT SHOULD WE USE TO HANG THINGS ON THE WALLS? It's okay to use small nails to hang items such as clocks on the walls. For instructional items, consider using the magnetic boards as a bulletin board, or using non-colored sticky tack to attach items without staples. Also, don't forget about the awesome hanging strips in the hallways for displaying student work! If you have 3-D projects that need to be displayed, talk to Julee or Julie about showcasing these items in the Works In Progress room showcases located right off of the Makerspace cooridor.
- HOW DO WE MOUNT FLAGS IN OUR ROOMS? Facilities is in the process of installing flag mounts about the boards in classrooms. Please use colored painter's tape (Debbie has blue!) to mark the spot where you want these mounted in your classrooms!! Make it obvious that they are for flags by writing in marker on the tape - American Flag/Texas Flag.
We are SO incredibly fortunate to be part of such an exciting time in history for both Cannon and GCISD! #BeCannonProud
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REMINDERS & UPDATES
POSTING GRADES REMINDER The report card posting window will close on Monday 10/22/18 @ 10:00 pm. Report Cards will post to Skyward Family Access on 10/24/18 by the end of the day. Please be sure all grades are entered for grading period 8/20/18 - 10/19/18.
U.CAN ON MONDAY Our first U.CAN of the year is this week! All K-2 teachers will meet in the K-2 Multipurpose room and all 3-5 teachers will meet in the 5th grade science lab. Please be prepared to begin promptly at 3:05! Thanks!
FRIDAY ASSEMBLY/SCHOOL PROGRAM This Friday, we will have special guests for our Friday Assembly, so we will be actually using the cafeteria & gym (with wall removed) so that we can use the stage for our special guests. Each year, during the American Airlines annual Skyball, we have been fortunate to have some highly decorated veterans visit our campus, thanks to Mike & Irene Boynton. This year is no exception! We will have a Medal of Honor recipient, a Vietnam POW (who was in captivity for over 2,800 days!) and a national recording artist attending/speaking at our assembly. PLEASE READ OVER THE BIOGRAPHIES OF OUR GUESTS HERE and take a few moments to talk with your scholars this week about their accomplishments and why they are considered to be national heroes. We want our Cubs to be a GREAT audience for these special guests! I will be sending out a diagram to all staff this week that will show the seating arrangement for school-wide programs that will be held in the cafeteria/gym space.
30-DAY WATER BOTTLE CHALLENGE FROM NURSE KENDRA! Nurse Kendra decided that it would be a good idea to challenge all of our staff to a 30 day water challenge. In your mailbox you will find a water bottle pop-top ( She likes the pop top and says that it makes her drink faster and you can easily remove it and fill up your bottle at the NEW water fountains) and a water checkoff sheet to begin. NO prize at the end, just the perk of feeling better and maybe even looking better:) Since we now have a few more staff bathrooms and the new awesome water bottle fountains she thought why not?? Some things she learned from watching the challenge videos:
1. You're going to have to visit the restroom more ofter, so help your teammates out!
2. You will feel full longer and maybe snack less.
3. You will boost your immune system and flu season is just around the corner!
4. You just might sleep better and have more energy!
5. You may improve the health and look of your skin.
To start the challenge figure out how much water you need to drink daily. The suggestion is half your body weight in ounces per day. EX. 160 lbs you need 80 ounces water So she challenges you to take a selfie on day #1 and day #30 and let's see if we notice any changes and feel better. GOOD LUCK!!!
ANNUAL STORYBOOK PUMPKIN DECORATING Information has been shared in the parent newsletter about the Storybook Pumpkins. Please check out this information and help promote this to your scholars here: Storybook Pumpkin Smore and Storybook Pumpkin video
PRODIGY MATH TOURNAMENT GCISD is holding a Prodigy tournament from October 9 through November 16. Prizes are available for individual students, classes, and campuses. Prodigy is available free of charge to any GCISD teacher and student in grades 1 - 8. Please see the Tournament Flyer for more information. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Hylemon.
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INFORMATION TO SHARE IN PARENT NEWSLETTERS
DAVID'S LAW PRESENTATION
Parent Technology Academy
GCISD Parent Technology Academy is BACK! Sessions are scheduled monthly with more to come! Come and learn along with others about the ever-changing world of technology in which your children are living!
Please Pre-Register https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEzQev_rjs1g97YQI14Xm_TW823AAPhtwGDskdzHQbhehYaw/viewform?usp=sf_link so we can be sure to have appropriate seating, as well as provide you will follow up material from the session.
Be sure to save the date as this favorite session fills fast with over 500 parents attending last year alone!
More Sessions can be found on the Parent Technology Academy Webpage
Hope to see you there!
Kyle Berger
CTO Grapevine-Colleyville ISD
Have a question about GCISD Parent Tech Academy or like to request a presentation? Let us know just email kyle.berger@gcisd.net
Please include this image in your parent communications about our new safety app
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CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION CORNER
Curriculum & Instruction Department Survey
Science Blog and Curriculum Map Information
If you teach science, please take some time to read the GCISD Science blog and watch the screencast explaining our newly designed elementary science curriculum map. Please subscribe to the blog in order to stay up to date!
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Worth A Read, Watch or...Listen!!
CHECK OUT THIS GREAT MATH RESOURCE FOR K-5 PROBLEM SOLVING This site has Problems of the Month already developed and organized by grade level and main topic for that level. The structure of these Problem of the Month problems are a "shallow floor and a high ceiling", so that all students can productively engage, struggle, and persevere.
CLOSING THE CARING GAP is a great blogpost about school safety and how focusing on closing the "caring" gap can impact change in school violence.
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TWITTER REMINDERS FOR @canSTEM
BIG thanks to all of our staff members that have already been actively tweeting about the great learning going on in your classrooms!
Please help us reach our campus goal for all staff to participate in a 5-minute a day communication plan, as stated in George Couros's quote shown here. It's truly a simple way to SHARE & LEARN from the best minds in GCISD! I am going to be highlighting our school twitter account HEAVILY with parents & our school community, to help create our own "outward culture of celebration"!!
As a reminder, please include our school's handle, @canSTEM, and our hashtag, #BeCannonProud in all of your tweets, so that they can be automatically retweeted on our school account. At the end of the day, simply go to @canSTEM and scroll through our school's tweets for 5 minutes and see what your colleagues are sharing! If you want to learn more from them about an idea they shared....you will only have to walk across the building to get more information firsthand!
Please click here to see our staff list of social media accounts. Please add/update any information so that we can make sure we follow each other!
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TO-DO LIST
- Set a timer and complete daily attendance ON TIME every day!
- Don't forget about grade posting guidelines! Reminder in this newsletter!
- Meet for U.CAN after school on Monday. See info in this newsletter!
- Complete the staff survey in the Curriculum & Instruction section of this newsletter about the BoY assessment support from Curriculum & Instruction.
- Participate in Nurse Kendra's 30-day Water Bottle Challenge and enjoy your pop-top she placed in your mailbox for use on your water bottle!
- Be prepared for visitors in your classrooms on Wednesday, during Principal/District Admin Instructional Rounds. All grade levels will be visited.
- Share information in this newsletter with your scholars & parents about the Storybook Pumpkin opportunity!
- Don't forget to wear Orange & Jeans on Wednesday, in support of Unity Day!
- Review the Q & A info in the New School/Move-In section. Keep submitting your questions & suggestions - we need your good thinking! :)
- Enjoy Staff Pot-Luck in Teacher Break Room on Thursday, 10/25!
- Please read over the biographies about our Friday guests and share this information with your students BEFORE the program and state expectations for behavior.
- See the Information To Share With Parents section of this newsletter for communication about campus events & other district news that needs to be included in your own newsletters, blogs, etc...
- Please click here to see our staff list of social media accounts. Please add/update any information so that we can make sure we follow each other!
- Review the information in this newsletter about the 5-minute a day communication plan. Tweet & blog about all of the great things you are doing in your classroom/grade! Don't forget to use @canSTEM and our hashtag #BeCannonProud this year in all of your tweets!